The most accessible SMT title with loads of action, cool characters, creature collection, and a slow but rewarding plot.
User Rating: 8.8 | Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou tai Chouriki Heidan PS2
If it’s one thing this game has, it’s LONGEST TITLE EVER, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner- Raidou Kuzunoha Versus The Soulless Army. The first Shin Megami Tensei game I ever played was Persona 2 for the PS1. I was immediately blown away by the story, character customization, and the unique art. What’s not to like about a game when a boss you have to fight is Hitler A few years later, I picked up Nocturne on the PS2, which offered everything I loved about Persona 2, and then some. Playing through the Digital Devil Saga series granted me with one of the coolest stories I had ever played through. I walked into Devil Summoner with the same expectations, and came out saying, “Almost, but not quite.” Don’t get me wrong, the game is excellent. I love the idea of actually getting into a real time battle with your random enemies, exploiting their weaknesses, and capturing them for later use. However, the combat system gave me the feeling of playing “Devil May RPG”. At the beginning of the game, you are given a brief tutorial on how combat flows. After this 15 minute run through, you are an expert of combat, using your katana and the various elemental bullets you have. It not necessarily that deep, but there are many things that add to the experience. Those many things is, of course, the monsters you employ, and summon into battle. Unlike most SMT games, you don’t negotiate with a monster to join you. If you are familiar with Pokemon, you know the drill. First you whittle them down a good bit, exploit their weakness with your elemental gun or summoned creature, run over to them and mash the circle button, and voila, you can say “I choose you, PYRO JACK!” anytime you wish. This had me a bit disappointed at first, but I grew to like the concept. One thing I don’t really like, is the fact that you can only have one of the same type of demon at a time, which if you want to sacrifice it, and still have one in your party, you have to track it down again, and capture it. The phase of the moon also dictates how well you can capture a monster, anywhere near the New Moon will be a cinch, and if it’s full, better luck next time. The creature design in this game is outstanding, from the wealth of intimidating and disturbing monsters, to the downright adorable; this game has a monster for everyone. My girlfriend hated me the first few times I killed a Jack Frost, but she understood they were necessary sacrifices to my small army of demons (which does include a Jack Frost, they’re useful throughout the whole game). Speaking of sacrifices, if you have a couple of monsters you regret capturing, you can always fuse them together to create a more powerful demon using the Gouma-Den shop. Other things you can do include sacrificing one to power up another, or sacrificing one to upgrade the stats of your katana. You can even register demons at the den also, and summon them back for a pretty hefty fee. The setting and the story really set this game apart from others in this genre. It takes place in Taisho year 20 (which is not a real year). It takes place somewhere between the 1920s and 1930s. You can really feel and see the conflict between the ancient ways of Japan and Western ideals. The story itself is mildly engaging for the first few chapters, but really picks up about midway through the game. The characters seem fully fleshed out after a few chapters, but it takes awhile to really get into the story. Being a good detective, you’re constantly sent out to find someone, and that usually leads to you trying to find someone else, which leads you to a broken down house where you fix their dryer which requires a part halfway across the map, go back, they’re gone, they’re neighbor is looking for their cat, etc. etc. It’s a lot of running around, doing fetch quests, piecing together the entire story of a living city. At the end you know everything, who’s sister is working in the Red-Light District, who her husband was, who got into an accident with him, and how all of that fits into the main picture. It’s a very complex story, and it gets better the further you get into it. There’s nothing really bad about this game, other than the fact that battles can get repetitive at times, the battle system isn’t that complex, and that it’s fairly easy and short for an SMT title. But aside from that, if you want something to tide you over until Persona 3, the best you can play now is SMT:DS- RK vs TSA.
